Camp-Out

I started the day going to the BMV to let them know we never got our renewal stickers for two of our vehicles, while we did for two others. Somehow I managed to be number 88, and they were calling number 86 when I walked in. There were three of us in there. I was in and out, with no problems, and it was freaky, man.

I stopped at Brandon's Burgers, a new place in town. Not bad--brought one home to Steve. He and Kaylee were spending the morning getting ready to go camping tonight at the Mississinewa Reservoir where they have a "rough" camp site. Have to hike back a couple miles to get to it, no hook ups or water or anything like that. Steve's pack started at 41 pounds and he got it down to 34. Kaylee's started at 30 lbs and she increased hers to 35 lbs to help Steve's. They were about to tip over walking out to the car, but I happen to know they made it out there. Lol

Kaylee sent me photos of the campsite, the water, their dinner, their fire. I sent her pictures of Molly. I've enjoyed my quiet little evening to myself. I ordered in Japanese and did whatever I wanted. Shhhhhh 

Did you know Snoop Dogg is my age? I mean, one year older, but my age. Bro has had a rough life to look like that at my age. Duuuuuude.

Below are all my campers' photos so far. Enjoy! :)

The intrepid wayfarers

Side view of Kaylee's pack

The Lake

Panoramic View of the camp site view

Camp site

My happy camping family

Tents up

I sure do like this girl

He's all right too ;)

Dinner

Yum ;)

Camp fire at dusk

Citabria

Quiet days on the horizon here, almost no flights scheduled at all for the last couple weeks of October, or the month of November for that matter. The Cheyenne is still in Pennsylvania on a big inspection, the Conquest is in Ohio on a big inspection and up for sale, and the one 340 is also up for sale, while E decides what he's going to get after he sells those two. The Meridian just went out to Colorado for its annual inspection and will be down several weeks as well. So basically right now I've got a 340 to fly, but no real trips happening anyway. At first that's kind of nice because I get to veg out and chill and watch 3 seasons of Ted Lasso and catch up on things that I otherwise never get around to. And then, after all that is caught up, I'd like to get back to work and make some money before winter settles in and students stop flying, ya know?

I went through and organized some info Steve needed for some billing stuff we have a problem with, and got that sent off. Went shopping when I realized I was out of about everything in the house, so that's an expensive one. lol  Did the dishes and took Kaylee's crock pot and ladle back over to her house today and gave pretty little Molly a pet. She is too stinking cute, and loves to talk to you, too. Very vocal. She's a fabulous fluffy dainty little grand-cat. ;)

Started taking my ADK (Vitamins A, D3, and K2) again in the mornings. I don't take it Spring/Summer/Early Fall, just in the Late Fall/Winter when I'm not in the sun nearly enough and fighting off the winter Blahs. I can already feel it, and not having many trips at all doesn't help, nor does the fact that the guys are probably going to use a jet to go to Florida, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Cayman, etc. so I won't get to do those during the winter either. *sigh* Hopefully I'll still get some of them, one way or another. I live for an hour on the water in Marco sitting in the sun eating a fresh fish sandwich in January... Other than trying not to die inside from the oncoming winter, :p, I'm feeling good. :)

The one flight I did today was a post-maintenance test flight on Chuck's Citabria. I haven't flown it myself in 8 years or more, whenever it was fully restored. But Morgan, who has been flying it the last couple of years, was in Colorado today delivering the Meridian, and Chuck was wanting it to get back home out of our maintenance hangar and into his at Glenndale. So I did a very good preflight, only found a seat belt and interior carpeting issue that I fixed, and then took it up over the field for about 30 minutes at almost full power, to help seat the rings on 4 cylinders. It was running great, so I took it on over to Glenndale. The winds were high today, but I didn't think it would be that interesting at Glenndale because it was only 20-30 degrees off the runway and no more than 26 knots. Well, down below 1000' it got really turbulent. I hit some wind shear action, losing 12 knots airspeed and started sinking like a rock, get that back, and a gust hits and knocks me over to a pretty good bank angle, around 45 degrees just "boom". I straighten that back out and it's time to flare, and it was sporty, sportier than I expected! But grass makes everything look good, so fortunately it was a decent one after all, since Chuck was watching. lol I was going to go up with him and do some TOLS, since he wanted someone with him the first time in awhile, but it was not a good day for that, we both agreed. There will be a better day. We put it away, he drove me back to Kokomo, and I drove home from there to work on some paperwork stuff.

My favorite part of that was that I did a Be Real flying the Citabria, waving "hi", and I waited. It didn't take long, and I had a reaction from Morgan, who looked decidedly wounded and shocked, which made me laugh out loud for several minutes in the plane. That's the reaction I was expecting and it was well worth it. She'll get her chance when she gets back tomorrow though. ;)

Just gonna watch "911", "911 Nashville", and "Grey's Anatomy" tonight. Nothing else going on, after I finish this, I'll be caught up for awhile. I should figure out what I could get ahead of. Like Christmas decorations or even presents for once in my life. *sigh* Probably not...

Kaylee just came over to walk on my treadmill for awhile. She can do inclines and stuff, and she's still trying to get her fitness up for her mountain adventures!

I took two photos in a steep turn. My nose is slightly below the horizon on this one, but the ball is dead centered and the bank angle is right where I wanted it.

So on this one my nose is right on the horizon where I want it, but...the ball is slightly right and the bank angle is a few degrees short. So I thought about replacing the attitude indicator in one picture and pasting it in the other, but that seems like cheating. ;)

Me waving "hi" up there in the upper left and Morgan's reaction. Ha. Hahaha

Lists

Kaylee had asked me if I had a chili recipe, because her work was doing a chili cook-off with the 7-8 ladies in the office there. I had my Mom's chili recipe, which has always been my favorite chili, so I snapped a shot of that and sent it to her. Last night she texts me "where am I supposed to find 3 pounds of lamb??" I look at the pic and respond with "That's 3 lbs of HAMB. Hamburger, dear." She slapped her forehead and moved on. Awhile later I get a text that says "That's a LOT of meat. Are you sure??"  I said "if it's in the recipe, I'd guess so, but text your Grandma, it's her recipe, she'd know!" Kaylee texts back that Mom uses 2 lbs. Good call, it was already very meaty, just perfect. :) She had me come over and do a taste test later, and I couldn't put my finger on why it tasted good but a little bland. So we added some more spice, and then let it be. She said that most of her co-workers were dieticians who take cooking classes so she was just trying not to embarrass herself. We decided it was good, and went to bed. She gets up this morning and drives to work, and their whole street loses power. No warming up chili there! She had to drive all the way home and do her three clients virtually over the computer. And in the meantime, we get the chili, because they're not doing it again until later in November.  So Steve and I had it for dinner, with cubes of cheese in the bottom, as per my favorite, and the flavors had blended in overnight and it was delicious! Childhood memory unlocked again, and an explanation on why I'm never as fond of anyone else's runny or noodly chili. :)

I finished the 3 available seasons of Ted Lasso tonight. I enjoyed his little inspirational speeches, and he reminded me of a sort of male version of Steve's mom. An unfailing optimism and faith in the goodness of other people even when they proved otherwise. Giving people a second or third chance when they definitely didn't deserve it, forgiving without a second though, and just kind, at all times, and in being so, genuinely, changing their lives for the better. Also rather wise in life things, too. But he was still human of course. He was annoying with his little non-stop chatter especially the first season. But at the end, his mom came across the world to come visit him, without telling him she was coming, and her last evening there, he stood in the kitchen and did a "Thank you" and "F you" list. Ann would never say F you, so there's a difference. "Thank you for the delicious dinner tonight. F you for showing up and not telling me you were coming. Thank you for the little things when I was a kid that made me feel special like putting googly eyes on the vegetables in the store to make me laugh. F you for pretending like everything was fine when Dad killed himself, and making me feel like I had to pretend too". Etc. It was a good speech, a strong, meaningful one. I enjoyed the show. I also liked Coach Roy, who was rough and gruff and said "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck" with a low growl so many times that I can hear it in my head now when appropriate and it makes me laugh. They also had a thing where if you said something, and the other person said "Oklahoma", you had to tell the truth. If they say Oklahoma, they're wanting to hear the truth no matter what, so you had to say it. "I'm fine" "Oklahoma" "I'm horrified by this". Kinda handy now and then, I'd think.

Steve and I got a vented heater for our deck to replace our electric heater. The electric heat causes so much moisture on the deck that we grow mold on the wood, which he spends a lot of time, money and effort to get it off of there. It's also a super expensive electric bill over the winter since that area isn't insulated. It wasn't meant to be a 4 season enclosed deck, but it's become that way. First because we had cats to keep alive, and then because Steve and the boys meet on the deck at least once a week to hang out all night, drink bourbon, and smoke cigars, and they don't care to do that without heat. So this new vented gas heater will help with that, and then he's having insulation put in on the roof of the deck too, to help out. We went to Menard's to pick it up today. Their system for picking up big items is quite efficient. You get a code to scan in at a gate, that alerts them on the inside that you're coming, you drive up, they pull your item and load it into your car and give you a receipt, you show the receipt to the guard at the gate who makes sure you're not driving off with anything but what you're supposed to, and off you go. It was quick and easy. He'll probably try to have it up and running by next weekend, I'd guess.

I was supposed to T-6 fly tomorrow morning with a new guy, but the winds are supposed to be a 40-50 degree crosswind gusting up to 25 knots, and I'm not doing that with a new guy. Probably not doing it anyway. No need.

They did a video of our formation flight. When I heard that, I flinched. I hadn't flown a 4-ship with T-6s since May of 2023. MAY OF 2023. That's 2 and a half years. In October of 2024 I did a 4-ship with mis-matched airplanes for a checkride for the JLFC, a year ago. That's it. That's all the formation I've done. And here we are getting videoed and sent out to the public. Terrifying. I was rusty as hell, which was the point of the practice. Fortunately the video isn't too bad. There's a video of our diamond pass over the runway which actually looked really good, but it's on Facebook and I can't seem to link it. This video is okay. There's some stuff that wasn't great, but not so bad that the general public would likely know. ;)

Saturday morning briefing

All of us pilots there. I bet you can find me

The first four-ship formation crew. Job Savage, Curt Lewis, Tim Gillian, Me

HERE is the video of the diamond pass on Facebook, too.

Stuff

I started the day in the dentist office by 8 am. He put on my permanent new cap on the lower left, so at least I am 50% done. I have the hole on the lower right to fill, which is still months away, but then I'll be all caught up on tooth damage. I didn't even have to have any giant needles to the face today! Yay! I can chew properly on the left side again, which is more exciting than I'd like to admit. :)

When I got home from that, I decided to be productive. I caught up all our laundry, put away all the clean dishes, and then did the big thing, cleaned off my desk. The left side is Steve's, the right side is mine, and my pile grows pretty big before I work up the energy to clean it off. Today was that day. I'm pretty pleased that I got it taken care of. 

Steve and I met Chuck and Ty for lunch, and the last flight of the day was taking the Champ up with Josh. He's been flying with Jerry, working on his tailwheel endorsement, and he asked to go with me, so we did. I thought he was having trouble with wheel landings, but I always start with a basic 3 point, and he wasn't able to do that consistently, so we spent 1.9 hours until the last landing we did was a good 3-point. But first I smoothed out the take-off. He was pushing the tail up, going fast, pulling the plane off the runway. So I showed him how to fly it off smoothly, and he loved that a lot more. He ended up doing several wheel landings on accident that were quite good. I think he'd worked so hard on nailing wheel landings that he goofed his site picture on 3-points. So we'll go again and hit those until they're consistent, then do a few wheel landings to make sure that was good on purpose too, and then move on to more advanced things. It'll be fun.

These are some pics from the Huntington Fly-in. I can see us two back there, and some pretty vegetation. There's also a video of the formation fly-over, but it's on Facebook and I can't save it off...

It looks like I'm leaning way forward to see--I was just leaning down to pull up my gear. lol

Grand Rapids

Good morning! What a pretty day. Dark too late in the morning and too early in the afternoon, but once the sun came out it was purty. I headed to Grand Rapids this morning with one fellow, Nick. He brought up some health stuff, and cholesterol stuff, so I told him about my recent weird experience, and will be giving him my bottle of the Citrus Bergamot. We’ll see what it does for him, if anything.

I know I’ve been in hypochondriac mode for a bit here. A little paranoid about things, trying different things, many of them may be hooey. At least I know that. But I legitimately had bad numbers for things, so that part wasn’t in my head, it’s just a matter of…what is serious vs normal, what is helpful vs not. Right now everything is back in line pretty well. Old people stuff. I wouldn’t write it all down and bore everyone if a bunch of people read this. So you got unlucky. ;) I’ll probably quit thinking about it so much now that things are back to ‘normal’ and decent, and just try to do well and relax a bit.

Short and sweet today.

Young Aviators

So, yesterday's adventure was taking Morgan in the T-6 up to Huntington, IN for a "Young Aviators' Fly-In". It was a group of about 40 young men and women under the age of 35 who are pilots or pilot enthusiasts.  Several of them are quite accomplished. Three members of Tora Tora Tora who are TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD. They fly a Spitfire, a P-40, a P-51, T-6s, DC-3s. Obviously that group have rich warbird dads, but several of the other 'kid' pilots there don't. They looked like children, but the ones I met were actually very nice. I also heard Tim S, the dad there, say that the old guard was rude, crude, arrogant, that they'd go out to the bar and get loud and drunk, while the new crew would go out and get ice cream. One of the Tora kids, Parker, said "That's actually true". I think that's nice, and even if I'm envious of their opportunities, I'm glad things seem to be in good hands at the moment with the generation coming up.

We did a safety briefing at 10 am, and then did our FPR or Formation Proficiency Report flight. Tim G was 'Lead', I was #2, Curt L was #3, and Job S was #4. All T-6s.  I didn't do too bad for only having flown formation twice in the last year and a half.  My FPR doesn't count towards NATA because I have to go do a checkride to get that reinstated. But I did turn it in to JLFC and TRARON so I will still hopefully have two valid formation cards in case I need them. Ya never know. I want to go to a clinic and do a bunch of flying though. I'm still rusty. I'm not terrible, but I'm rusty. But it's not exactly a financial priority. lol

After that flight, they took up the DC-3 and took passengers, which we left for the others to do, and we ate Little Caesar's. They were having a pumpkin drop contest next, but neither Morgan nor I wanted to do that. It was really cold outside. lol So we sat and talked with the other old people there, Tim, Greg Moorehead, etc. Then it was time, I felt we'd hung out long enough, so I got gas. I go inside the FBO and ask what I need to do to get fueled up. They pointed me to a white truck with an old guy sitting in it and told me to ask him. I go up to the window and knock, he opens the door, and I say "Hi! I hear you're who I need to talk to about getting some fuel". He looks at me funny, and then says "What are you going to do with it?" I was temporarily flummoxed. What do you mean? Not sure how to answer that! I said "Fly home?" He said "OH, you mean 100LL!" I said yes. He said he thought I meant car gas for my car. I'm like.... no? Why would I ask him for fuel for my car? Then he asked what I needed fuel in, so I pointed out the Checkertail T-6. He said "REALLY?" Yes, really. He asked if I could get up on the wing and fuel it or if I needed him to, because he normally fuels up the planes but these "special" planes he likes to let the pilots do it. I said I'd have to get up there to unlock the caps anyway, so I'm happy to fuel it. He asked how long I'd been flying it, and I said we had it restored in 2007-2008. He asked how long I'd been flying it then, and I said "Since then." Surprised him again. Finally he said "I've never had this experience before. I've never seen a woman flying an airplane like that before!" So I guess I broadened his horizons some. ;) He asked me to do a roll over the runway when I left. I said no. He asked if I'd do a wing-wave. I said sure, but I didn't do it because the pumpkin drop was in full swing and the pattern was full already. I'm sure he'll get over it. ;)

I had Morgan fly us home from the back seat, and over her house circling a little. We got back to Kokomo, and our two 172s were in the pattern, and being annoying. We landed, I had some caffeine and some water, we waited until only one 172 was up, and then I put Morgan in the front seat of the T-6 for the first time, and started checking her out in it. We were up almost an hour and a half. Steep turns, slow flight, I set it up and did a few incipient stalls, let it break just a little to show her how it feels and how to recover quickly. We were only at 3000' and I didn't feel like doing the full stall series yet, but I wanted her to see how it breaks. Then we came in to do several takeoffs and landings. We did three point landings to start with, even though she'd never seen me do one in there. She did just fine. A little tailwheel first a couple times, but the last one was a greaser. We quit on that one for the day. I didn't have to grab anything. She follows directions quickly, smoothly, and appropriately and is just really easy to teach, and picks things up very quickly. I can see what needs done probably better than I could do it myself from back there, and her first time doing probably ended with a landing better than I'd have done from back there. Which is annoying. ;) We ended on that, and then went to McCallister's for a BLT, before I brought home dinner to the rest of my family.

Steve and Kaylee had gone on a very long hike in W. Lafayette in an area that was woods and had a bunch of hills. So the climb was listed as "moderate" difficulty, with a bunch of up and down and up and down and up and down. Which was the point, for Kaylee, trying to condition towards her mountain stuff. She did great on the uphills, but her knee started bothering her on the downhills. Steve did fine on the downhills but had to stop and breathe a few times on the uphills. So together they made a good team. At one point Kaylee heard a noise and turned around and Steve had literally face planted. The poles he was using prevented him from getting his hands in front of him, and he landed on his face in the mud, with his rear up in the air. They both kept laughing every time they thought about it. He was not hurt, he just caught his fall with his face. They were both sore and tired last night.

I was also sore and tired last night, because believe it or not, the T-6 and formation and instruction stuff uses more muscles than you'd expect, and so does being tense, and cold and shivery all day. I was so tired I went to bed at like 10 pm, and slept through until 4:30 am. Which is sad on a Sunday when I didn't have to get up. Laid in bed for an hour then gave up and got up at 5:30. Maybe I'll be able to take a nap later. ;)

T-6 hair in Morgan. ;)

Now there's more than one long-haired, red-headed T-6 pilot up there

Notice the small print under "Young Aviators"?? Job said nobody there knew me well enough to do that, he was afraid to. I laughed.

Yay Times Two!

Kaylee and I went out to dinner tonight when I got back, at Pastariffic. She is still fully on board with climbing the Grand Teton. She visited the cardiologist today. He said her heart is doing great, and he was on board with her training to and climbing the mountain stuff, because it would be good for her POTS. So she was encouraged by that. She also got contacted by Emilie Drinkwater, who if you Google, is very famous in her role as a mountain guide. Even Red Bull did a story on her. And she's going to personally work with Kaylee, and Kaylee is extremely excited about it. I am happy for her. She's going to start upping her training to try to be ready for this climb in 8 months. :)

I got my lab results back today, and I was really pleasantly surprised and relieved. I had four kidney markers that were "abnormal" Oct. 2nd. One in the urinalysis, three in the blood work.  The results I got back today showed the urinalysis completely normal, and 2 of the 3 kidney tests were also normal! The 3rd is still too high, the Creatine, but only by .03. It's almost normal! I am so freaking relieved to know that it was temporary kidney damage, assumedly from the dehydration, which is reversable, and not kidney disease, which isn't. I'm going to be kind to my organs for awhile here, I'll tell you that much!

The other thing that came back that threw me was my cholesterol. So as you know it jumped on my Oct. 2nd test. Total was 214, Triglycerides were 211, for two. Everything was 'abnormal' on it. I was so surprised by this, that I ordered an at-home testing kit just to verify the results. In case it was a fluke, a mistake, I hadn't fasted properly, or SOMETHING was wrong. The second test from a different place verified the results. My levels were over 200.  The only thing I changed was adding in the Citrus Bergamot. I was only able to take it for about two weeks before I had to quit taking it because it was hurting me, especially at night. My cholesterol results today? Total is down to 191, HDL is back in the good range, Triglycerides is down to 135. ONE THIRTY FIVE. My LDL is still high, but only by 15, not 40. And my Non HDL Cholesterol which was also sky high is down to 140. It's supposed to be below 130, but it was up around 180, so everything, everything is in better shape. And I don't know why, if it's not the supplement, I don't have any other explanation. I'm glad I verified the first results with a second separate test, because otherwise I'd just think maybe the lab got it wrong. Isn't that crazy? I feel like I caught a break here. Liver--good. Kidneys--good. Cholesterol--good. Blood sugar--good.  Wheeeeeeew.  That felt like it was close. I'm so relieved.

The day was spent with warbirds. So that's Yay Part Two. I started off flying with a guy in the T-6. It was his first time in one. He wanted to start in the front seat, acted like "of course, it's no big deal, I have 1500 hours of tailwheel time (he flies a Grumman Tiger these days), I won't have any trouble with it." I really, actively dislike it when people are hopping into an airplane new to them and just think that they are just fine with it, when they don't know a thing about it. They don't believe you when you tell them there's a reason to be cautious. They think you're just not experienced, or a nervous nelly, or whathaveyou, and the only way to prove it to them is to let them do it and see for themselves, but sometimes that puts you in a bad position. I hate those. I was saying that to Steve, and he said "It's a guy thing. An Ego thing. Some guys just don't believe that there's anything they can't pull off and do well at." I said "I wish *I* had the confidence of a Mediocre Man". He snort laughed his tea; that hit him really funny. But I'm serious. I'd get so much more done in this arena if I had that kind of confidence all the time, warranted or not. This fellow is a nice man, but he got a little bit of humble pie when I had to rescue his landings. He said "Whoa! I see what they mean!" the first time we went shooting towards the right side of the runway starting to go sideways. He wants to come back and do another hour of takeoffs and landings. At least he learned that it's called the Pilot Maker for a reason. We had dead calm winds, too, by the way...

Ashley, Morgan, Steve and I went into town for lunch, and then everyone came back to go flying. Ashley and Morgan and Steve all had students, and I took the Aerostar down to Terre Haute, where I flew in the BT-13 with Laurence, our other BT instructor. He had to do his CAF recurrent checkride in it.  I was relaxed, because this guy actually knows how to fly it, and it's a pleasure to ride around and relax in the back of a plane where I'm not worried about what's going to happen on roll-out. ;) But he got me once. The strut was stuck, and we were rolling out, and suddenly he slammed on a brake and jerked the plane. I thought we were going off the side, as it was a skinny runway (not at Terre Haute any more), but he'd done it on purpose to try to lower the strut. I was like...you gotta warn a girl! We flew over an hour, and then I took the Aerostar home. Kaylee texted me and asked if I wanted to meet for dinner, and now we're back to the beginning of the post. :)

A good day was had by all!

T-6 views

BT-13 Views

BT

Aerostar

End of day...

Toledo Fluids

Another 5:15 am wake-up call. This time Steve had to get up too. Since he hasn’t put Morgan on the Aerostar insurance, he has to go along on every flight we use it for these maintenance runs. He sort of does that on purpose to keep him in the game, but he may regret it on days like this where we have to start off at the butt crack of dawn. ;)

We got out to Kokomo by 6:30 am, and were in the air by 6:45. Dropped me off at Frankfort, where I took the Conquest up and flew it over to Toledo, OH for its Phase II/III inspection, which should take 2-3 weeks. Morgan and Steve came and got me in the Aerostar. I flew us home from there. We were back on the ground by 9:30 am, which was perfect for Steve’s 10 am appointment…which canceled while we were up so we didn’t have to be back so soon after all but didn’t know it. Figures!

I went from there to the lab. I’m getting one last round of numbers, and I’m going to print them off and take them in to my doctor’s office, and discuss kidney function. I had a bad thought and looked up Imitrex. Guess what… it’s not good. You can google it yourself. Imitrex kidney damage. But if a person couldn’t take that, then I don’t know what a person would do.

The one thing I was *not* this time, was dehydrated. I fasted since pizza last night for dinner, had only water. No tea, no coffee, no caffeine even, no gum, no nothing, and I drank water all morning, which posed an issue while out flying around to Ohio and back. But I’m pretty good at timing, so that was fine. I had tried to get an appointment, because if you have one you walk in and out in ten minutes or less. Otherwise you may be 1-2 hours. But the soonest appointment was 12:20 and I was back by 9:30 am. So I went early anyway, and checked in. I was trying to check in early so they’d let me in early. But they kept bumping me down because my appointment wasn’t until 12:20. There’s no person at a window, it’s just a computer check in. When I tried to check in as a walk-in Without an appointment, it made me scan in my driver’s license, and then said “Nope, you have an appointment”. So I cornered a nurse when she came out to call someone else and asked about it, and she said she’d get me in as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I’d had 16 oz of water an hour ago and I was not going to make it 2 more hours to 12:20. Right when I was deciding I was going to have to go home, go to the bathroom, drink more, miss lunch with Kevin, John,  Nathan, Steve, Chuck, Morgan, and Ethan, and go back at 12:20 for the testing, the nurse stuck her head out and called me back. Hallelujah! 

She got the blood quickly, and then gave me a cup finally, told me to put it in the locker in the bathroom. I get done, and this time I have noooo problem. lol I put it in the locker, and there are still two other samples (all with lids) still in there that haven’t been retrieved yet. I’m pretty sure that’s not kosher, for one thing. I could have mixed up or manipulated the samples with no-one the wiser. The one thing I did note, was that I was the only one of the three very much NOT dehydrated. ;). I should have results hopefully tomorrow for stuff, and when I verify that the numbers still aren’t good, I’ll call the doc and get an appointment. *sigh*

In the meantime I got a chai tea with oatmilk, so rich and creamy, and am trying not to take a nap in the middle of the day. We’ll see if I’m successful. I don’t have anything else on my schedule for today, so I’ve been catching up on laundry and paperwork, as usual…

A rainbow we saw on the way home from Toledo

Pennsylvania & Nashville

Good news—I slept fine, pain free, no weird kidney things. I could have used a few more hours of sleep to catch up on what I missed the other night, but removing that supplement definitely made a difference. I woke up this morning feeling almost normal internally. I have bloodwork scheduled for Thursday just before lunch, and then once I see the numbers I’ll call and set up a doc appointment, most likely. 

Alarm went off at 5 am today, which did bum me out a little, as I really needed another couple, but…at least everything felt all right. ;) It was still quite dark and cold when I got to Frankfort, but no stars this time because it was also overcast. *sigh*

Morgan, Logan and I took off at 7 am for Butler, Pennsylvania, and we watched the sunrise at 27,000'. Coming down into PA it was really rough and turbulent over the mountains, with the 25 knot winds over the hills. When we got there, I took the courtesy car and we went to the Country Kitchen, upon recommendation from the front desk. It looked like a Waffle House on the outside, had a giant egg wearing a hat and with a head wound scrape on the side, up on the roof, which was entertaining.  We spent the rest of the couple hours up in the pilot lounge hanging out, until Logan came back. We got back to Frankfort by 1 pm, which gave me time to put in gas and load back up and head down to Nashville to pick up Andy. I was supposed to be down there by 3 pm, and I was down there by 2:17, and he was already there and waiting. Andy is frequently very early when it's just him. So I just paid their $300 ramp fee instead of taking the time to get gas, and we were on our way. Back to Frankfort before 4 pm, so they could top it off and put it in the hangar for me, which in the cold, overcast wind, I really appreciated. 

From there, Morgan and I did some work at the FBO for about an hour. Returned some emails, did some billing, I moved the maintenance logbooks into the Conquest, prepped for tomorrow's flights, and then we separately drove down to Sheridan and met Steve, Chuck, AE, and 7 other people for dinner at the pizza place. Home by 7:45 pm, hanging out on social media, and going to bed at 11 and hopefully getting to sleep, because I have to get up at 5 am again tomorrow. Three days in a row is tough for me. *sigh*

Sarasota Blowing

Unfortunately I only got about 2.5 hours of sleep last night...because my insides hurt so bad. My lower back, kidney area was in pretty bad pain. I couldn't take a deep breath, couldn't put any pressure on it, so I couldn't lie on my side, or my back. I was trying to sleep with my arms over my head or anything that would work. Nothing did. So from 2-5 am, I was awake, in pain. Finally at 5:07 am I realized that it was better, and I could have gone to sleep, except I had to get up at 5:15. So I got up. And boy was I tired.

I have only had that kind of pain twice now, and both times it had one thing in common. I started taking Citrus Bergamot, a supplement that has had several trials that demonstrated it helped lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels in people, with minimal side effects. It warned you about taking it if you're diabetic because of lowering blood sugar levels, it said you could have a little nausea, but it was very promising.  The two times I've had a lot of pain at night in my kidney area I had taken the Bergamot right before I went to bed.  So this morning at 5 am I specifically googled about it and kidneys, and sure enough, it does say it's not recommended for people with kidney stones or kidney damage. Well, okay then. That was my last pill of that for awhile, and I'm sure hoping that tonight I sleep well and pain free. The ole kidneys are definitely messed up though. So Thursday morning I'm going to go get a fresh test, and call and make an appointment with my doctor to see what they say about it. It's hard not to be concerned about the ramifications, I just hope it's reversable or not too far gone.

This morning I got to Frankfort while it was still so dark I could clearly see the stars. I was so tired. Pulled the Conquest out, and Morgan showed up, and I had her fly the first leg down to Sarasota, while I just sat there, in silence. Closed my eyes, and we didn't say probably 5 words to each other the whole time. When we got down there and were getting gas and waiting, I had some coffee and a donut, and more water, and it helped wake me up a little bit. She told me she'd woken up that morning with a nasty headache and a bad mood, but MY bad mood was obviously worse than her bad mood, and my bad mood won, so she had to be not in as bad of a bad mood. Lol  We loaded up the boys when they got there, and headed for Marion to drop them off. I flew the next legs. It was windy as Hell out there. Coming in to land at Marion the winds were gusting to 28 or so, crosswind. I landed, dropped them off, then flew over to Kokomo where the winds were almost a direct crosswind gusting to 32. There are cells everywhere, rain sheeting down, and one thing we said looked cool, and then a lightning bolt shot out of the bottom of it. I said "Whoa, shit!" and moved away. Coming in to land at Kokomo, my airspeed dropped and I commented "That felt like wind shear" and then suddenly the plane starts dropping, and as I threw in the power, said "That was DEFINITELY wind shear!" Fortunately the Conquest has a ton of power, and is responsive. I landed, parked over by the maintenance hangar, and we ran over to the 172RG, hopped in and flew it over to Muncie. Morgan flew it, and the landing at Muncie was just as exciting. Wind shear, big gusts, lots of turbulence. She wrestled it down and did good. Dropped me off to pick up the MBros 340. 

I grab the 340 and take IT back to Kokomo. This landing was a little less exciting, so that's good. Put it away, grab a bunch of packages Steve and Kaylee had ordered in for hiking stuff, load up the Conquest, and take Morgan and the Conquest back home to Frankfort. I was at the end of my stamina, so one more landing, and then Derek was there to help put the plane away for me, thankfully, and I was able to drive home. I'm done, all worn out. Frankfort to Sarasota Florida to Marion to Kokomo to Muncie to Kokomo to Frankfort, starting awake at 2 am and ending at home at 6 pm. Morgan said I'd better get some good sleep tonight because she's afraid of me if I'm in a bad mood two days in a row. ;) Tomorrow is another busy one, starting early, again.

A rainbow off my wing today

Nashville

We may have gotten a break! Steve talked to our homeowners insurance guy and he thinks this may actually be covered after all. That would be fabulous! The adjuster is supposed to call tomorrow. We're hoping they don't say "You cover the first $10k and we get the rest" or something, but we'll see. It would be lovely to have this covered, to have the homeowners insurance actually do something. :)

I don't think my kidneys are doing much better. I'm gonna wait another week or so before I test it again, but some things make me think things are the same. I don't have to use the restroom nearly as much even if I drink a lot, including first thing in the morning after waiting all night. Haven't had to get up in the middle of the night in weeks, even if I drink something before I go to bed. So I don't think it's processing as much. And sometimes I can feel pressure on them, especially on the right side. Something I've felt before. I don't want to test too soon, I want to make sure I give it time to adjust, but if it's simple dehydration, 2-3 weeks should have been plenty. If the numbers are worse or the same, I'll call the doctor and set up an appointment. If they're better, I'll give it more time.

This afternoon, my job was super easy. I took the Conquest down to Nashville to drop off Andy. Just him and me. It was so nice to have the internet back again too! The airplane started just fine, ran great. I took some photos of the plane as Ethan is putting it up for sale asap. The trip to Nashville was an hour, it took me an hour to get gas on the ground there, and then it took me an hour to get home. Add in 90 minutes of drive time, and I was door to door in under 5 hours, in clear skies. It was nice! :)

I did learn that the Meridian has a bad tire, so now I have to take the Conquest down to Florida to pick up two kids, and then Wednesday might have to run to Pennsylvania (also supposed to be the Meridian) and then back down to Nashville to get Andy. We shall see.

When I got home, I stopped at Culver's, got Kaylee some chocolate custard, Steve a burger, and me a pecan/caramel/pumpkin "blizzard". Good stuff.  Molly came trotting out to the deck to say hi to me, than ran inside, wanted me to follow her. But I was just dropping off the ice cream this time, sorry Molly! Now we're watching a couple shows, then on to bed early because I now have to be up at 5:30 am, and no later than that! *sigh*

Fall Ball O' Sun, putting away the Conquest on my own

2000

It was a super nasty cloudy windy rainy day. I spent the day not taking a shower, sitting on the couch, under a fuzzy blanket, watching "Slow Horses" and "Tulsa King" episodes, many in a row. Steve painted the deck "ceiling" with stuff to get rid of and keep off mold on the wood. We listened to the wind howl and watched rain spit sideways.

But the forecast said it would clear off around 6 pm. The sun sets around 7 pm now, and Morgan was going to break 2000 hours flight time on her next flight. She didn't want it to be with a flight student, which it was going to be if we didn't go today, she wanted it to be fun, which is what I try to do on my '000' hour flights too, so we agreed to try to meet up for the 1 hour it was supposed to be okay. It was still going to be windy, but at least not IFR any more, and a little lower than the 35 knots it was for awhile there. It did clear off in time, so we met up at 6 pm, and the sun broke through. 

Runway 23 is still closed, but the winds had moved the barricades and blown some of them into Runway 32, and knocked over a port-o-pot too. I called in to the FBO, right before he left for the day, and warned him about it, so he came out and fixed up all the barricades and such before heading out, and thanked me for letting him know.

We flew around for about 1.2 and she did a bunch of landings, ended on a greaser, and crossed over 2,000 hours on a windy, Fall, finally sunny Golden Hour evening.

We topped it off, I took lots of photos, and we put it away for the day.

I almost didn't go, because I liked being on the couch in comfy pants. But I have rarely regretted what I did vs what I didn't do, so I got up, took the shower, and went for it. I was glad, it was worthwhile.

Photo Dump of Fall Golden Hour below: